The Association Blog

Brought to you by Drs. Kate Hurley and Jennifer Scarlett

As the veterinary profession continues to face a critical shortage, one of the most pressing issues in the short term is veterinarian retention. As you may be experiencing in your community, losing veterinarians further diminishes the capacity of shelters and veterinary practices to provide essential care.

To help you best address the situation, Jennifer Scarlett, DVM, in collaboration with Dr. Kate Hurley, have released a white paper, Keeping the vets we have: shelter veterinarian retention as a core strategy to support access to veterinary care. In the 10-page white paper, these leaders in the profession outline four reasons why veterinarians leave shelters:

1. Lack of support
2. Inability to provide care due to overcrowding
3. Misalignment with leaders
4. Compensation

“We work in a system that has mismatched expectations,” says Scarlett. “We’re here to serve our community, to take all the animals who need to come in, and not do any euthanasia. It is an impossible situation. And that’s something that, as a group, we need to come together and advocate for each other. It’s bigger than anything that, as individuals, we can take on.”

In addition to the results of a baseline survey, the resource explores practical, crucial and near-term solutions to address veterinary retention. These strategies include addressing overcrowding, obtaining organizational alignment, providing an attractive compensation package and striving for work-life balance. How can you implement these strategies in your community? Get your copy of the white paper and discuss with your team.